Chapter 5 - Unholy Alliances
The high-caliber round took out the main light rig, plunging the room into chaotic darkness mixed with screaming wind and falling rain. Dust and glass rained down like winter ice.
"Evacuate!" Victoria screamed, her calm composure completely shattered as her remaining guard dragged her toward the main doors.
Marcus didn't waste a second. He scrambled across the glass-strewn floor, pulled Anna and the baby into his arms, and kicked open the maintenance hatch behind the kitchen wall—a secret escape route built into the penthouse structure years ago.
They slid down the steel escape chute, landing heavily in the dark underground parking garage beneath the tower. A sleek, armored SUV was waiting, its engine revving softly in the damp chill.
The driver’s window rolled down. Expecting another enemy, Marcus raised his weapon, but the face looking back at him was the last person he anticipated.
It was Julian Vance—Marcus’s estranged younger brother, who had disappeared ten years ago after being framed for corporate fraud.
"Get in if you want to live," Julian said, his voice cold and raspy. "Blackwood's hit squads are blocking every exit road within five miles."
Anna hesitated, clinging to Marcus’s jacket. "Who is he? Can we trust him?"
"He's my brother," Marcus said, though his eyes remained wary. "Which means trusting him is a gamble. But right now, it’s the only hand we have."
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As they threw themselves into the back seat, Julian slammed his foot on the accelerator, tearing out of the garage just as three black sedans pulled up to block the entrance.
Chapter 5 Cliffhanger / Hook: As the armored vehicle sped into the rainy night, Julian glanced at Marcus through the rearview mirror with a bitter smile. "You think you saved her, Marcus? You just handed Blackwood the key to the vault. But what you don't know is... Elena didn't die of an illness."
